UN hands over formal letter to Dhaka

FE Report

The Committee for Development Policy (CDP) of the United Nations has formally announced that Bangladesh has fulfilled the criteria for graduating from LDC status for the first time.

Roland Mollerus, Chief of the Secretariat of the CDP, handed over an announcement letter in this regard to Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Ambassador Masud Bin Momen at an event organised in New York on Friday.

Undersecretary General and High Representative of United Nations Office of the High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu, Chair of CDP Expert Group Prof Jose Antonio Ocampo Gaviria, Assistant Secretary General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific of UNDP Haoliang Xu and Director of UNDP's Human Development Report Office Dr Selim Jahan joined this event and addressed the audience.

"It's a historic day for us," Mr Masud said in his statement.

Mentioning that from the war-ravaged country to today's graduation has been a bumpy ride, Ambassador Masud said, "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh adopted bold and forward-looking development strategies which yielded rapid but inclusive economic growth, structural transformation and remarkable social progress".

"The eventual graduation from LDC status would lead to higher credit rating for Bangladesh," he said while talking to the FE earlier on Saturday. "This can potentially boost the flow of foreign direct investment in Bangladesh and provide the country with better access to capital market."

To be eligible for graduation from the world's poor-country club, a country must reach threshold levels for graduation on at least two of these three conditions, or its GNI per-capita must exceed at least twice the threshold level.

When it comes to Gross National Income, Bangladesh's GNI per capita, as per the World Bank Atlas method, is US$ 1272, well above the threshold of US$ 1230.

Meanwhile, in the Economic Vulnerability Index, where the score needs to be 32 or less, Bangladesh's score is 24.9 whereas in Human Asset Index, the country has already attained a score of 72, well above minimum requirement of 66.

As such, Bangladesh became one of the first LDCs to graduate on the basis of all three criteria during the recent triennial review that took place during the CDP plenary meeting in New York.

As per the current provisions, a country needs to be eligible in two consecutive CDP reviews before any recommendation is made. Therefore, Bangladesh will have to meet these same criteria again in 2021 to be recommended by CDP for graduating from the LDC status by 2024.

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